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Zend_Application Quick Start

There are two paths to getting started with
Zend_Application, and they depend on how you start your
project. In each case, you always start with creating a
Bootstrap class, and a related configuration file.

If you plan on using Zend_Tool to create your project,
continue reading below. If you will be adding
Zend_Application to an existing project, you'll want to
skip ahead.

Using Zend_Tool

The quickest way to start using Zend_Application is to use
Zend_Tool to generate your project. This will also create
your Bootstrap class and file.

To create a project, execute the zf command (on *nix systems):

% zf create project newproject

Or the Windows zf.bat command:

C:> zf.bat create project newproject

Both will create a project structure that looks like the following:

newproject

|-- application

| |-- Bootstrap.php

| |-- configs

| | `-- application.ini

| |-- controllers

| | |-- ErrorController.php

| | `-- IndexController.php

| |-- models

| `-- views

| |-- helpers

| `-- scripts

| |-- error

| | `-- error.phtml

| `-- index

| `-- index.phtml

|-- library

|-- public

| `-- index.php

`-- tests

|-- application

| `-- bootstrap.php

|-- library

| `-- bootstrap.php

`-- phpunit.xml

In the above diagram, your bootstrap is in
newproject/application/Bootstrap.php, and looks like
the following at first:

class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap

{

}

You'll also note that a configuration file,
newproject/application/configs/application.ini, is
created. It has the following contents:

Adding Zend_Application to your application

Create an application/configs/application.ini
configuration file with the base configuration necessary for
Zend_Application.

Modify your public/index.php to utilize
Zend_Application.

First, create your Bootstrap class. Create a file,
application/Bootstrap.php, with the following contents:

class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap

{

}

Now, create your configuration. For this tutorial, we will use an
INI style configuration; you may, of course, use an
XML, JSON, YAML, or
PHP configuration file as well. Create the file
application/configs/application.ini, and provide the following
contents:

You may note that the application environment constant value looks
for an environment variable "APPLICATION_ENV". We recommend setting
this in your web server environment. In Apache, you can set this
either in your vhost definition, or in your .htaccess
file. We recommend the following contents for your
public/.htaccess file:

SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV development

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d

RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]

RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [NC,L]

Note: Learn about mod_rewrite
The above rewrite rules allow access to any file under your
virtual host's document root. If there are files you do not want
exposed in this way, you may want to be more restrictive in your
rules. Go to the Apache website to » learn
more about mod_rewrite.

At this point, you're all set to start taking advantage of
Zend_Application.

Adding and creating resources

If you followed the directions above, then your bootstrap class
will be utilizing a front controller, and when it is run, it will
dispatch the front controller. However, in all likelihood, you'll
need a little more configuration than this.

In this section, we'll look at adding two resources to your
application. First, we'll set up your layouts, and then we'll
customize your view object.

One of the standard resources provided with
Zend_Application is the "layout" resource. This
resource expects you to define configuration values which it will
then use to configure your Zend_Layout instance.

If you haven't already, create the directory
application/layouts/scripts/, and the file
layout.phtml within that directory. A good starting
layout is as follows (and ties in with the view resource covered
next):

Now, we'll add a custom view resource. When initializing the view,
we'll want to set the HTML DocType and a default value for the title
to use in the HTML head. This can be accomplished by editing your
Bootstrap class to add a method:

class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap

{

protected function _initView()

{

// Initialize view

$view = new Zend_View();

$view->doctype('XHTML1_STRICT');

$view->headTitle('My First Zend Framework Application');

// Add it to the ViewRenderer

$viewRenderer = Zend_Controller_Action_HelperBroker::getStaticHelper(

'ViewRenderer'

);

$viewRenderer->setView($view);

// Return it, so that it can be stored by the bootstrap

return$view;

}

}

This method will be automatically executed when you bootstrap the
application, and will ensure your view is initialized according to
your application needs.

Next steps with Zend_Application

The above should get you started with Zend_Application
and creating your application bootstrap. From here, you should start
creating resource methods, or, for maximum re-usability, resource
plugin classes. Continue reading to learn more!